Nelson’s work for both children and adults deftly manages lyric tradition and historical truths, examining complex issues around race, feminism, and the ongoing trauma of slavery in American life in narratives poised between song and speech. In 2019 she was awarded the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize from the Poetry Foundation. In 2017, she was recognized with both the NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children and the prestigious NSK Neustadt Prize for Children’s Literature. In 2013, Nelson was elected a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets. She is a three-time finalist for the National Book Award, winner of the Robert Frost medal, and the recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and Guggenheim Foundation, among other honors. An accomplished poet and translator, Nelson has also written numerous books for children and young adults. She earned her BA from the University of California at Davis, her MA from the University of Pennsylvania, and her PhD from the University of Minnesota. Nelson spent much of her youth living on different military bases and began writing poetry in elementary school. Marilyn Nelson was born in Cleveland, Ohio, into a military family: she is the daughter of one of the last of the Tuskegee Airmen.
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